791 AH, 17/08
Minṭāsh then secured possession of a storehouse belonging to amir Jarkas al-Khalīlī, amir of the stables, and containing many weapons and much money; also of another belonging to Baklamish al-ʿAlāʾī. From these Minṭāsh secured large quantities of supplies and thus strengthened his position, for his weakness had arisen not from lack of men but from lack of arms, as most of those who had come over to him had been unarmed.
Al-Nāṣirī now sent into the battle amirs Maʾmūr the great chamberlain, Jumaq ibn ʾAytamish, and Qarā Kask, with a large force of yalbughāwīya, who had foreseen the decline of the yalbughāwī power because of the imprisonment of al-malik al-Ẓāhir, and were even more convinced of it if al-Nāṣirī should be defeated by Minṭāsh. So they went down against Minṭāsh prepared to do their utmost; but the populace who were stationed in front of the Minṭāshīya came out to meet them and, hurling showers of rocks in their faces and the faces of their horses, forced them to break and return once more to the Gate of the Chain.
At the same time the discharge of arrows and naphta bombs, as well as [rocks from] the projectile machines, continued incessantly from the citadel upon the Minṭāshīya and those who were on the top of the madrasa of Ḥasan, and finally one of the rocks from the machine struck the dome of the Mosque and pierced it, killing one of the Minṭāshī mamlūks. When Minṭāsh saw the intensity of the fire upon him from the citadel he summoned the master engineer (al-muʿallim) Nāṣir al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn al-Ṭarābulusī, who was an expert in shooting with naphta machines; and because he delayed his appearance, when he did arrive Minṭāsh had him stripped in preparation for executing him by cutting him in two at the waist. Muḥammad, however, made satisfactory explanations, and then went out with a party of horsemen, brought up the naphtha guns, took them to the top of the madrasa, and shot at the Royal Stables where al-Nāṣirī was residing. Finally he pierced a side of al-Nāṣirī’s tent and scattered those who were gathered there; al-Nāṣirī and the sultan left the place where they had been sitting and sought safety elsewhere.
Before the end of the dy the number of Minṭāsh’s horsemen had reached 2000 combatants.